Promoted from Forums to homepage, written by Mike Stauffer, NBA 2K Production Assistant for rosters and ratings.

As NBA 2K15 Overall ratings are released, I think it is important to point out that NBA 2K15 will feature a revamped formula to determine a player's overall rating. This year a player's overall rating will be determined by what "type" of player they are. By having more dynamic overall rating formulas it allows for players who are highly valued by teams to have a more representative "Overall" rating. Specialists such as great defenders, shooters, and rebounders will have an overall value that properly displays their worth to an NBA team.

The goal of the newly calculated Overall formulas is to as accurately as possible show a player's value in the NBA. The new formula will really highlight those players that play a very important role on their team, but may not be the prototypical player at their position. All players in the NBA provide some sort of value to their team, and the revamped Overall formulas should really illustrate that in NBA 2K15.

(More details below, as Mike answers questions from the community.)

So if I have two SG's with identical attributes but one is a "Defensive" and the other is "3PT" they will produce two different overalls?

Mike: Good question! No, the individual ratings will determine what player type (per position) to use.

If a player gets traded to another team, does the overall change?

Mike: No. It is 100% based on a player's attributes.

So basically what you are saying is that the 2K ratings being released paint an incomplete picture without releasing the player types as well?

Mike: Not exactly, and this post should address other confusion in the thread:

For every player, their individual ratings will run through all of the overall formulas possible for a given position. Whichever formula generates the highest overall is what is displayed in the roster. The individual attributes matter more than ever in determining a players overall.

Can you could elaborate as to what are some of the overall formulas possible for a given position might be based on?

Mike: We will be elaborating on this in the future, this was just to add some perspective in the ratings that are being released. But in the past, player's overall rating by position was calculated by a singular formula. In 2K15 there are many different formulas that are calculated that will look at certain individual attributes with more weight than others to account for different player types. Of those formulas the highest Overall is selected. The overall formula from games past is still there, but many other formulas are being calculated to accurately display the overall worth of a player who specializes in a certain part of the game.

In years past many claimed Overall ratings "mean nothing". This year they should. Player's Overall rating should finally be the point of debates.

It sounds like they are just removing the filter of position in determining overall rating. Essentially- ratings will be calculated pretty much the same, but instead of a given player's position dictating which of the 5 potential overalls they receive (either pg,sg,sf,pf, or c overall) they tweaked it so a players overall is the highest of the 5 formulas. They simply eliminated a position penalty and put the onus on the ratings. I don't think it's as in depth and evolved as some of you are guessing.

Mike: I'm not sure where this assumption is coming from. As I've said a few times in the thread, there are a variety of Overall formulas that are now being calculated per position to better represent unique players that may not be all around players for their position. These players are still very valuable to a team and in 2K15 their rating will reflect that value.

Each Position has a set of Archetypes (or Player Types, if you will). All-Around, Athletic, Defensive, etc. Some positions share some of them, some have some unique ones too. A player has an overall per player type per position. So a player has (NumberOfPositions * NumberOfPlayerTypesPerPosition) overall ratings. Each Positional Player Type has its own overall formula (so PG All Around has a different formula than PF All Around has a different formula than C Defensive).

Whenever his overall rating gets updated, we calculate all the overall ratings for his position by player type. The player type that gives him his the highest overall is the one we determine "most compatible", so we assign it to him along with that Overall.

So yes, a player that might be C All-Around but as years go by sees his offensive attributes regress but you've made sure to keep him up to par defensively using (cheap plug but I'm a dev) our new in-season Training system, might see his player type change to C Defensive, and his value to the team will still be there.

As for team-building AI, we've taken some steps to make sure teams take into account specific needs as far as more specific skills go. So if that player losing his offensive ability means that the team lost their main source of points, they'll value players that can bring the team's scoring up more than players that might be contributing to needs sufficiently covered (such as defense, in this example). (Let me clarify that the examples of "offense" and "defense" are shallow and the "skills" teams look at go beyond that; there's 13 different categories actually.)

That said, Team Style is still a factor, so teams won't all "average out" by trying to cover skill needs, if a coach prefers to play a certain way. So if a team prefers outside scorers over inside scorers, it won't value inside scorers as much, even if it has more of a need for them than another team.

Also, we pay much more attention at position stacking which has been a problem for years in the franchise. Teams are much more aware of trying to build each position with a player of starter quality, a decent bench player and a 3rd string backup (less important but good to have). Not every team is going to be perfect, and if they were, they wouldn't be able to replicate my frustration with Detroit's roster all these past years. :P More than 3 players in a position starts making teams reconsider unless their skills and secondary position mean that they're of significant value to the team. No more "Oh, another 80+ point guard available? Never mind that we have 5 of them already, let's get one more since we can fit him under the salary cap!" I cringed so bad when someone showed me a screenshot of that and I made a point of starting to fix that logic that very same day.

You can see how a system like this gets really complicated. I'm very happy with our new overall formulas and logic this year, and along with the improvements to team-building (which isn't going to be perfect but we've taken strides in the right direction, trust me) gives us nice results and a nice base to continue working off of based on this year's feedback.

A lot of things have been changed this year, so I'm really looking forward to fresh feedback once you get your hands on the game.

This year a player's overall rating will be determined by what "type" of player they are. By having more dynamic overall rating formulas it allows for players who are highly valued by teams to have a more representative "Overall" rating. Specialists such as great defenders, shooters, and rebounders will have an overall value that properly displays their worth to an NBA team.

So basically what you are saying is that the 2K ratings being released paint an incomplete picture without releasing the player types as well?

As NBA 2K15 Overall ratings are released, I think it is important to point out that NBA 2K15 will feature a revamped formula to determine a player's overall rating. This year a player's overall rating will be determined by what "type" of player they are. By having more dynamic overall rating formulas it allows for players who are highly valued by teams to have a more representative "Overall" rating. Specialists such as great defenders, shooters, and rebounders will have an overall value that properly displays their worth to an NBA team.

The goal of the newly calculated Overall formulas is to as accurately as possible show a player's value in the NBA. The new formula will really highlight those players that play a very important role on their team, but may not be the prototypical player at their position. All players in the NBA provide some sort of value to their team, and the revamped Overall formulas should really illustrate that in NBA 2K15

So will a Player's "TYPE" change thru their Career? Meaning if a guy comes into the League Strictly as a Shooter OR a Dunker, but Develops his Overall game to become a more Complete Player does their Player "Type" Change?

As NBA 2K15 Overall ratings are released, I think it is important to point out that NBA 2K15 will feature a revamped formula to determine a player's overall rating. This year a player's overall rating will be determined by what "type" of player they are. By having more dynamic overall rating formulas it allows for players who are highly valued by teams to have a more representative "Overall" rating. Specialists such as great defenders, shooters, and rebounders will have an overall value that properly displays their worth to an NBA team.

The goal of the newly calculated Overall formulas is to as accurately as possible show a player's value in the NBA. The new formula will really highlight those players that play a very important role on their team, but may not be the prototypical player at their position. All players in the NBA provide some sort of value to their team, and the revamped Overall formulas should really illustrate that in NBA 2K15

im not sure i understand this exactly. dynamic in what way, determines player types how?

So basically what you are saying is that the 2K ratings being released paint an incomplete picture without releasing the player types as well?

Not exactly, and this post should address other confusion in the thread:

For every player, their individual ratings will run through all of the overall formulas possible for a given position. Whichever formula generates the highest overall is what is displayed in the roster. The individual attributes matter more than ever in determining a players overall.

Not exactly, and this post should address other confusion in the thread:

For every player, their individual ratings will run through all of the overall formulas possible for a given position. Whichever formula generates the highest overall is what is displayed in the roster. The individual attributes matter more than ever in determining a players overall.

Not exactly, and this post should address other confusion in the thread:

For every player, their individual ratings will run through all of the overall formulas possible for a given position. Whichever formula generates the highest overall is what is displayed in the roster. The individual attributes matter more than ever in determining a players overall.

I am excited about the concept of what you are saying. Meaning...it is obvious that you and 2k have put thought into the value of role players.

That being said, the explanation of how it is being implemented (how it is calculated/dynamic) is still creating more questions than answers in my opinion.

Can you be very specific in how it is calculated and how it is dynamic or is that information that is "coming soon"?

Not exactly, and this post should address other confusion in the thread:

For every player, their individual ratings will run through all of the overall formulas possible for a given position. Whichever formula generates the highest overall is what is displayed in the roster. The individual attributes matter more than ever in determining a players overall.

Can you could elaborate as to what are some of the overall formulas possible for a given position might be based on?

Can you could elaborate as to what are some of the overall formulas possible for a given position might be based on?

We will be elaborating on this in the future, this was just to add some perspective in the ratings that are being released. But in the past, player's overall rating by position was calculated by a singular formula. In 2K15 there are many different formulas that are calculated that will look at certain individual attributes with more weight than others to account for different player types. Of those formulas the highest Overall is selected. The overall formula from games past is still there, but many other formulas are being calculated to accurately display the overall worth of a player who specializes in a certain part of the game.

In years past many claimed Overall ratings "mean nothing". This year they should. Player's Overall rating should finally be the point of debates.

I think the new ratings formula will just place more weight/importance to specific individual ratings based on what "type" of player is being rated.. a shot blocking rim defender might not get docked if he can't shoot, and a stretch 4 won't get docked if he can't block shots.. guys like Kyle Korver and Tony Allen for example could theoretically have the same overall.

The more "complete" players will still have highest ratings, but now "specialists" might finally get some love.. excited to see how it works out..

We will be elaborating on this in the future, this was just to add some perspective in the ratings that are being released. But in the past, player's overall rating by position was calculated by a singular formula. In 2K15 there are many different formulas that are calculated that will look at certain individual attributes with more weight than others to account for different player types. Of those formulas the highest Overall is selected. The overall formula from games past is still there, but many other formulas are being calculated to accurately display the overall worth of a player who specializes in a certain part of the game.

In years past many claimed Overall ratings "mean nothing". This year they should. Player's Overall rating should finally be the point of debates.

I get it now I think. It sounds like the individual ratings will determine player type in a sense.

They're fine. I actually prefer an always connected experience.
I'd really prefer an offline way to play, but its not a bother.
I don't really like them, and am more reluctant to buy a game because of it.
I won't buy them. I want my games offline.